urbane adj

1 showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience; "his polished manner"; "maintained an urbane tone in his letters" [syn: polished, refined, svelte]

2 characterized by tact and propriety

3 marked by wide-ranging knowledge and appreciation of many parts of the world arising from urban life and wide travel; "the sophisticated manners of a true cosmopolite"; "urbane and pliant...he was at ease even in the drawing rooms of Paris" [syn: sophisticated]

English

Etymology

Existing since the sixteenth century in the sense of “appropriate to a city”: from urbain or from urbanus (from urbs, “city”).

Pronunciation

• /ɜːˈbeɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Adjective

1. In the context of "of a man": Courteous, polite, refined, and suave.
   • 1949: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p12

     He felt deeply drawn to him, and not solely because he was intrigued by the contrast between O’Brien’s urbane manner and his prize-fighter’s physique.

Related terms

• urban

Translations

References

• The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]

Italian

Adjective

urbane

1. Feminine plural form of urbano

Urbane mentioned in the Bible:

• Romans 16:9
  • Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

accommodating, affable, agreeable, amiable, appropriate, attentive, balanced, becoming, bland, civil, civilized, clubbable, clubbish, clubby, communicative, companionable, companionate, compatible, complaisant, congenial, considerate, courteous, decent, decorous, deferential, fair, felicitous, fit for society, fitting, fond of society, friendly, genial, genteel, graceful, gracious, gregarious, happy, hospitable, meet, metropolitan, obliging, poised, polite, proper, respectful, right, seemly, smooth, sociable, social, social-minded, solicitous, suitable, tactful, thoughtful